Whangaroa to Whangamumu

Hi everyone,

We spent a week from 17th January in Whangaroa Marina.  Twas time to do the laundry and the weather outlook was grim - lots of wind and even more rain.  So it turned out with very heavy rain from an ex-tropical low on Wednesday and Thursday.  We had at least 250mm of rain.  Areas further south in Northlands had much more.

Sailing SE from Whangaroa

Full water tanks and overflowing jerries

Run-off turned the harbour brown

Zen Again in Whangaroa Marina

After leaving the marina early on Saturday morning we motored to Waitepipi Bay in the harbour's western arm.  There were half a dozen yachts and several motor vessels anchored there.  For the next two days S-SW winds were strong and gusty - up to 30 knots - with rain showers.

There's an interesting weather phenomenon here.  The winds die almost every night.  It seems an inversion layer forms with calms below and gradient wind above.  The gradient wind gets back to the surface by 0900 each morning.

Yesterday we finally departed Whangaroa Harbour.  We really enjoyed our time there.  So many scenic anchorages and no swell.  The only thing missing is a supermarket.

We sailed to Whangamumu on the east side of Cape Brett.  Here are the usual screenshots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Winds were light to moderate W-SW.  Occasional light showers and mostly overcast.  We sailed all the way to Cape Brett.  From there we motored around the cape where winds were very fluky then onward 4nm S to Whangamumu Harbour.

Approaching Cape Brett

Approaching Motukokako/Piercy Island and "the Dog"

Rounding Cape Brett

Passing inside Motukokako/Piercy Island

Cape Brett lighthouse

Approaching Whangamumu Harbour

Anchored

Morning Light

We expect to spend several nights here.  Winds are forecast to be very light for the next week.  We plan to clean the hull and explore ashore.  We'll then hop SE towards Whangarei.

We haven't given up on reaching South Island.  At the moment we're thinking we'll give the E coast a try.  This allows us to explore the coast to Auckland and perhaps the Bay of Plenty.  We'll be watching out for a weather window to take us S.

Trust all's well where you are!

Western Australian Anchorages

Hi everyone,

This is a technical post!  It describes a set of 450+ waypoints extracted from the Western Australian Cruising Guide (WACG).  The image below shows the anchorage locations overall.  The WACG covers WA with lesser coverage of western NT and western SA.  It is the WA cruising 'bible'.

Overall Coverage

The WACG is freely available to download here in either ePub or PDF formats.  It has been published by the Cruising Section of Fremantle Sailing Club since 1997.  I have compiled the waypoints from the v5.5 2025 edition.

This set of waypoints is not intended to be a 100% WACG set but I believe it covers 95% or more.  Some waypoints described as 'desperation' anchorages are deliberately omitted.  Likewise some public moorings shown on charts.

WACG Front Cover

As for our New Zealand waypoints, three sets of data are present.  First three GPX files of waypoints (NT, WA & SA) created in OpenCPN.  The waypoints include anchorages, moorings and marinas.  Second a single zip file of KAP satcharts for most of the waypoints.  Third a single KMZ file for use in GoogleEarth.

Below are three GoogleEarth screenshots showing the Kimberley, Pilbara and West/South coast waypoints...

Kimberley

Pilbara

West & South Coasts

Every waypoint includes the WACG v5.5 PDF page number in its description field.  The ScaleMin parameter is set on most GPX waypoints.  This prevents dense sets of waypoints obscuring the underlying charts.  Zoom in to areas of interest to see all waypoints.  The screenshots above show all waypoints.

The accuracy of these waypoints has NOT been verified.

NOT for use in navigation!

The GPX files may be downloaded here.

The three files are named "ZenAgain_Waypoints_Australia_??.gpx".

Each file should be added to OpenCPN as a 'layer'.

The KAP zip file may be downloaded here.

The file is named "Australasia_Australia.zip".

Unzip the file then place the files in a folder searched by OpenCPN for charts.

The KMZ file may be downloaded here.

The file is named "ZenAgain_Waypoints_WACG.kmz".

Load the file in either the Google Earth Pro app or its online equivalent.

Here is a short video tour of WACG waypoints - from Darwin to Port Lincoln via Broome, Exmouth, Fremantle, Augusta and Esperance...

If you find these waypoints useful consider donating using the button at the top of this page.

Alternately Buy us a Coffee!

Trust all's well where you are.

Mangonui

Hi everyone,

After a month in Whangaroa we needed to reprovision.  We had two choices - a very expensive taxi ride to the nearby town of Kaeo or a 20nm sail to the town of Mangonui.  We chose the latter.

Mangonui Pub

We had a good sail from Whangaroa to Manganui.  Mostly a broad reach in light-moderate SE winds.

Track

Departing Whangaroa Harbour

Approaching Mangonui

Anchored in the river

We arrived at about 1400.  By 1500 we were dinking ashore.  It took three round trips to take all the provisions back aboard.  After that we had fish & chips with the crew of sv Masterplan.

Main dinghy dock

Supermarket

The following day we explored the town and walked to Coopers Beach to get some exercise.  It's a nice beach and has a bigger supermarket than Mangonui.  We'd found just about everything we needed in Mangonui and it'd be hard work carrying it back from Coopers Beach.

Alternate dinghy dock

Back in Mangonui we had a nice fish'n'chips lunch at the pub and went for a walk S out of town to explore.  Then to the Postmistress bar for a final round of drinks.

The pub's macaw

Nice eateries

Nice beer

That evening a light N wind came in and we didn't sleep well.  The anchorage is well protected apart from N-NW winds.  Very good holding in 6m over mud.  The following morning we sailed back to Whangaroa.  A light airs beat out of the bay followed by a beam reach.

Track

Sailing back to Whangaroa

Back in Whangaroa we anchored for a couple of nights.  With a windy and rainy weather outlook we booked into the marina, this time for a week.  There we can to get ashore for walks, have showers, do our laundry and enjoy the Game Fishing Club.

Still hoping for a weather window to take us 'over the top' and S to South Island.

Trust all's well where you are!